Gas-leak bill becomes law

Thursday

Jul 10, 2014 at 8:27 AMJul 10, 2014 at 1:51 PM

By William J. Dowdwdowd@wickedlocal.com

With stroke of the pen inside Springfield’s City Hall Monday, Gov. Deval Patrick established a requirement that utility companies fix and closely monitor what state Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, and others have long urged is an epidemic of leaky gas pipes, which pose a statewide public-safety hazard.Under the law, Grade 1 leaks, those determined to pose an immediate danger, will now be fixed without delay. Grade 2 are to be repaired within the next 12 months and Grade 3 pipes will undergo “re-evaulation,” according to the Patrick administration.The law is the first of its kind in the U.S. It is expected to have broad implications beyond the repair of approximately 25,000 identified leaks and the monitoring of about 5,700 miles of pipe.“This law will ensure public safety, protect the environment and reduce the cost of utilities,” Patrick said in a statement.Top priority will be given to leaks within a 50-foot radius of any school.“This law is a big step forward on public safety in nearly every neighborhood in Massachusetts,” said Ehrlich, who had filed bills to address gas leaks each session since 2010. Her four years of persistence finally brought results Monday.She continued, “I’m thrilled we are compelling gas companies to track their own leaks in a more transparent and uniform way.”Ehrlich said she filed her initial bill upon learning that the gas industry was not devoting adequate resources to upgrading and replacing the state’s archaic infrastructure.Replacing and repairing pipes over the next 20 years is expected to spur job growth, save ratepayers tens of millions of dollars and reduce environmental degradation.State Rep. John Keenan, D-Salem, noted the legislation “encourages improvement of natural-gas distribution” infrastructure, “which will help many households and small businesses lower their energy bills by taking advantage of a cleaner, cheaper energy source.” Keenan, House chairman of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, and Ehrlich have sparred over Footprint Power’s plans to construct a gas-fired power plant in Salem but found common ground on the gas-leaks issue.Under the law, utility companies will be required to submit plans that include timelines for addressing ailing pipes. Thereafter, every five years, they will provide summaries of leaks they have fixed and detail ones scheduled to be fixed within the next five years.The state will also levy fines on utility companies that violate federal “gas-pipeline safety” statutes, enforced by the Massachusetts Department of Utilities. Companies can now be fined between $100,000 to $200,000 per violation, up to $2 million.While lauding the new law, some say crucial provisions were removed during negotiations between the House and Senate, most notably a requirement that the least serious, Grade 3 leaks be fixed.Joel Wool of the self-declared nonpartisan environmental organization Clean Water Action Massachusetts, said the law rightfully prioritized the most hazardous leaks but ignores lower-level ones.“This is progress, but we’re hardly finished,” he said. “Gas leaks are a significant source of global warming.”Until there is a more comprehensive plan to address the entire gas infrastructure, “companies will continue to bill ratepayers” for gas that escapes through leaks, which also negatively impacts the environment, Wool added.Mark McDonald, president of the New England Gas Workers Association, had similar tempered enthusiasm for the new law.“We got something to work with here, and it’s a good start,” McDonald said.Yet, McDonald argued that the new law should have required Grade 3 leaks to be fixed. He would have also liked to have seen companies be forced to divulge to the public the location of leaks and conduct “gas patrols”during the winter.Because those provisions were removed, the public remains vulnerable to explosions, he argued. However, he praised Massachusetts officials for having gone further to address the issue than anyone else.“This is now the only place where gas leaks are regulated under state law,” he said.Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey, who has filed federal legislation modeled after the new state law, called Ehrlich’s bill visionary.“My federal legislation reflects Rep. Ehrlich’s bill, and I hope that my colleagues in the U.S. Senate will follow the lead of the Massachusetts state Legislature and Governor Patrick,” Markey said on Tuesday. “We should take this incredible Massachusetts leadership and expand it to the entire country.”